Citing a lack of qualified personnel, failures of administrative oversight, and an overtaxed staff, Camden County Commissioners say the takeover is needed to avert a public safety crisis.
By Matt Skoufalos | August 8, 2024
Woodlynne Municipal Building in 2020. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
Amid years of battling staff turnover, compliance issues, and faulty record-keeping, Camden County officials have determined that “a police department in Woodlynne is no longer sustainable,” Camden County Commissioner-Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. said.
Addressing a bank of TV cameras in a church basement on a rainy Thursday morning, Cappelli, Jr. told those gathered that the 2,900 borough residents “don’t have adequate police protection [and] haven’t for some time.
As a result, Cappelli, Jr. said the borough would be dissolving its police department and contracting with the Camden County Metro Police for its public safety services.
“What we have is a police department that is basically going to disappear over the next 60 days,” the commissioner-director said.
Cappelli, Jr. said the Camden County government has had meetings with members of the Woodlynne borough council “for weeks,” and that both governing bodies are primed to approve within the next week a short-term shared service agreement (SSA) for police services.
“Within that timeframe, the Woodlynne Police Department will be dissolved, and the borough will enter a contract with Camden County to provide police services,” Cappelli, Jr. said.
“We see this as a permanent solution moving forward because Woodlynne doesn’t have the resources to provide the level of policing that we do.”
The moment of crisis is outlined in a July 31 memo from the Woodlynne Police Public Safety Director Edwin Ramos to Camden County Prosecutor’s Office (CCPO) Deputy Chief Randy McNair.
Ramos, a civilian, leads the department in which the highest-ranked officer, 28-year veteran Acting Sergeant Luis Ruiz, is slated to retire September 1. Ramos announced his own resignation from the department in that same memo, as of August 15, along with that of Special Law Enforcement Officers (SLEO) Melvin Fuentes.
Combined with the family and military leaves of SLEO II Brendan Gallagher and SLEO II Brandon Napier, respectively, Ramos noted that the community would be left with only two full-time officers, Corporals Luis Ruiz and Matt Fuentes, and two SLEOs, Edwin Rodriguez and Joseph Blount, to police the community.
Ramos’ recommendations for an emergency action plan in that memo included turning over temporary manpower and supervision to the CCPO “until a smooth transition is completed either by shared services or another agency providing full police services to the Woodlynne Boro.
“This will allow the remaining Police Officers to have supervision, training, and law enforcement partners until the transition is completed,” he wrote. “This will ensure and address the safety issues for the Officers and residents of Woodlynne.
“At this point, there is no other alternative and unrealistic [sic] operational plan that can exist without the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office intervention.”
The organizational structure of even the smallest police departments typically is helmed by a chief, with captains or lieutenants between that rank and those of sergeant or detective sergeant, officer, and patrolman. Ramos said Thursday that nobody in the current Woodlynne Police Department possesses the qualifications to test for a rank as high as lieutenant.
“When the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office (CCPO) asked me to come up with an operational plan, I sat there for three days and looked at it, and there was no option,” Ramos said.
“At the end of the day, our elected officials are responsible for our citizens,” he said. “This is something that we had to do for the safety of the public, visitors, and our police officers.”
Woodlynne Public Safety Director Edwin Ramos said the borough must outsource its policing in the interests of public safety. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
‘A complete lack of leadership’
Ramos described the current Woodlynne Police Department as being “back in the 90s,” whereas Camden County Metro Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez said, “It’s more like policing in the 70s.”
“The current situation is scary,” Rodriguez said.
“They’re nowhere near the standards they need to be.”
A written evaluation of Woodlynne Police completed by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police from January 15 to February 21, 2024 underscores the level of disarray evident in the department.
When the CCPO requested a copy of its policies and procedures manual in November 2023, Woodlynne’s submission “was just a copy obtained from the Merchantville Police Department,” the analysis reads.
“It was reported that Woodlynne failed to update the copies to reflect the Woodlynne Police Department and issued the unedited copies to their officers with Merchantville Police contained in them,” the report notes.
Among its observations and recommendations, the report cites “a complete lack of leadership” in the Borough of Woodlynne Police Department. It describes a property and evidence function “in complete disarray,” with “a potential chain of custody issues that could compromise pending and future cases,” an Internal Affairs function that is “defective and essentially non-existent,” the absence of training, performance evaluation, and recruitment efforts, among other concerns — including the statutory misuse of SLEOs to perform regular police work.
“The entire system is broken,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been Band-Aids after Band-Aids, and now the wound is infected. I’ve asked for logs, crime stats, budgets — none of it exists.”
The department is so out of compliance with its own policies, Rodriguez said, that, although officers are wearing body-worn cameras, they’re three generations behind the current technology, and the footage they collect goes unmonitored.
Those deficiencies contribute to a public safety environment that puts officers at risk as much as it does residents and visitors to the community, the chief said. Moreover, the lack of oversight in the department has already led to the termination of officers who’ve passed through its ranks.
In 2021, Woodlynne Patrolman Ryan Dubiel pleaded guilty to simple assault in an unprovoked use-of-force case that saw him barred from police work and public office in New Jersey.
Woodlynne Patrolman Ryan Dubiel (right) pleaded guilty to simple assault in an incident involving 20-year-old Derrick Swinney (left) and an unidentified juvenile. Credit: Robert Baum/ Woodlynne.net.
In 2023, Woodlynne Patrolman Joshua Rosenblum was charged with theft, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct, and was suspended and eventually terminated for his behavior.
Another high-profile case brought by former Woodlynne Councilman Clyde Cook centered on allegations of borough officers forcing their way into his home, disabling their body-worn cameras, and pepper-spraying his family in what Cook claimed was a violation of his constitutional rights.
Under the oversight of the Camden County Metro Police, Rodriguez said that policing standards “from Day One will increase tenfold and get better from there.”
All existing Woodlynne Police officers will be eligible to be considered for jobs within the Metro Division, Rodriguez said. Three have applied for work there; the SLEOs have applied elsewhere.
“Some of them may not meet our qualifications and standards,” he said. “We’re avoiding hiring another Dubiel.”
Under the Camden County Metro organizational hierarchy, the chief said he plans to designate 10 to 12 officers to police Woodlynne in a division that will be established within the borough, but overseen from Camden City.
Those officers will not respond to calls for service in Camden City, but will be supported by backup according to established mutual aid agreements through the Camden County Metro Division.
Rodriguez said the lack of administrative oversight from Woodlynne has previously hampered common policing goals that the borough shares with Camden City.
“We have investigations that lead to Woodlynne,” the chief said. “We know a lot of the bad apples already who live in this town, but the police department doesn’t. We’ve tried to share this information; they don’t show up to meetings. Woodlynne is absent from the table.”
Camden County Metro Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez speaks about his department taking over policing duties in Woodlynne. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
If, as Rodriguez said, “the administrative side is the nightmare,” patrolling the borough will be considerably easier.
At 0.22 square-miles and 2,900 residents, Woodlynne accounts for one half of one sector in the districts that Camden County Metro polices in Camden City.
To put it in perspective, “it’s half of [the Camden City neighborhood] Parkside,” he said.
To support the transition, Camden County Metro Police will hand out literature to residents door to door, educating people about options to connect with police electronically as well as in person, and emphasizing a community aspect of the job that Rodriguez said has been missing from the borough for a while.
The administrative oversight from Camden County Metro Police will begin to reflect itself in supplemental patrols beginning September 1, with a full migration of the Woodlynne Police Department October 1.
During that phased-in assessment period, Rodriguez said, he will begin to create a budget for the department, which Cappelli, Jr. said likely will be supported with transitional aid from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
‘How much power’s behind talk?’
Shirley Childs, a 30-year Woodlynne resident, said she has had no issues with public safety response in the borough. The department is so small that, even in the early morning hours, Childs said that she could tell who’s on shift in her block by the glow of the lights in their vehicles.
“We have a different rapport,” she said. “I don’t know if we’re going to have the same rapport with them combining Camden.”
At the same time, Childs was critical of the lack of access to information in the municipality. She spoke about being unable to obtain public information from the borough, and the difficulty she’s had asking questions of government officials.
“When you ask questions, you’re not going to get a truthful answer from anyone,” Childs said. “Whoever’s in there, they’re scared to talk to you. Who do you talk to? How much power’s behind talk?”
Childs said she’s not in favor of Woodlynne merging with a neighboring municipality to conserve costs, but at the same time, she worried about the impact of a Camden County Metro Police bill for residents who already pay the highest tax rates in the county.
“I think it’s best for the citizens to have this, but how is it going to be reflected in what we’re paying now?” Childs said. “I’m now retired and on a fixed income.”
Camden County Commissioner Louis Cappelli, Jr. speaks on the Camden County Metro Police takeover of Woodlynne Police. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
Woodlynne Council Member Wilfredo Rodriguez said he believes the arrangement with Camden County Metro Police will help the borough address issues that could have compromised its safety.
“It’s a good thing,” Rodriguez said.
“The cops were doing their duty, but they were overworked.
“Once they’re overworked, anything can happen.
“Everything that I heard was all good for Woodlynne,” he said. “We’ve got the community’s back.”
Notably absent from the public conversation Thursday was Woodlynne Mayor Joseph Chukwueke, who was not present for the meeting.
Reached for comment, Chukwueke was defiant, claiming that neither he nor the borough solicitor, Darryl Rhone, were consulted on the proposed takeover of borough police by the Camden County Metro Department.
Woodlynne leaders “were never for once sat with the Camden County Prosecutor during the time they want to make the decision of moving our department to Metro, despite calls from the borough, which were never returned,” the mayor said.
Chukwueke — who also serves as the emergency management coordinator for the borough — said he would reserve future commentary for the coming week, when he could do so with Rhone present.
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